PARIS (AP) – Agnès Callamard is best known for her investigation into the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and has made a career out of extrajudicial crimes.
The French human rights expert is focusing on human rights abuses as Amnesty International takes over and turns its attention to what it says is one of the world’s most pressing issues – the fairness of the vaccine to end the coronavirus pandemic. which has eroded freedoms globally.
Amnesty International has published its annual report on Wednesday, arguing that governments used the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to thwart human rights, whether or not that was the original intent. The comprehensive report focused on the governments of Myanmar and Russia, among others, but also criticized the use of coronavirus-related police powers in places such as the United Kingdom and the United States against protesters.
The only way to end the virus – and the abuses that have accompanied it, primarily against the world’s most vulnerable – is to distribute vaccines globally and fairly, she told the Associated Press on Tuesday.
“What we found is that the victims of COVID, whether in the UK, France, the US, India, the Middle East, Brazil, these victims were primarily among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. “As a global community, as a national community, I failed the test that COVID-19 represented.”
Callamard seldom hesitated to shout at the strong. In 2019, as UN special rapporteur, she concluded that there was “credible evidence” that Khashoggi’s murder had been sanctioned by the state. He also investigated the American drone strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and concluded that it was illegal. Earlier this week, she said there was a real risk like Russia he subjected opposition leader Alexei Navalny to a “slow death.”
She said she would no longer conduct her own investigations, as she had done for years for the UN – but would continue to denounce human rights violations as she saw fit. And the pandemic exposed a lot. Its conclusion, she said, will expose even more, especially among rich and powerful nations that have purchased more vaccines than they need.
“Not only do we buy everything, but on top of that, we stop others from being able to produce it. In the name of what? In the name of profit and in the name of greed, ”said Callamard, referring to the decision of the European Union and the United States to block a proposal to relax intellectual property restrictions on patents related to coronavirus treatments and vaccines.
One of his proposals is in line with the Biden administration’s call this week for a global corporate income tax. In a preface to the Amnesty report he wrote before Monday’s announcement by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Callamard said the global tax system has produced more losers than winners.
“Global taxation is a way to rebalance equality,” she said. “It’s a way of making sure that those who have the least are not always asked to give the most.”
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